Neulakko in English

Neulakko is a site devoted to the arts and crafts of the medieval period. I mostly focus on medieval clothing. My main interest is in 14th century clothing and various textile arts, but I’m also interested in a wide variety of medieval history, everyday things and archaeology.

Neulakko is Finnish for needle case. I originally started Neulakko because there weren’t that many sites on medieval clothing in Finnish. And although it may seem so, not every finn is fluent or comfortable with English. I recently noticed that I have quite some non-finnish readers as well. Because of this, I began providing English versions of my blog posts in spring 2009.

The blog entries are tagged by theme:Neulakko is for site updates etc to do with the siteProjektit is for Projects ie. Things I’m making / have madeKirjat is for posts on booksLinkit is for posts that contain linksTapahtumat is for events and other interesting occasionsMuseot is for museumsReseptit is for cooking and recipesKuvat is for posts containing and on picturesTeltta is for my tent, encampments and campingHistorianelävöitys is for posts on historical re-enactmentOhjeet is for instructions and tutorialsTutkimus is for posts on research

Instructions and articles
It has instructions and tutorials for making your own medieval clothing as well as some articles on medieval clothing. Many are in Finnish, but some in English and some just have enough pictures to be understandable.

Books and Links
The site also houses links and a list of useful books. So far, only a part of my library is listed here. Someday, I’ll have everything listed here. For more links, it’s good to see the Linkit – category in the blog, which is for posts that contain links.

I’m a medieval enthusiast and a re-enactor. I started out in this hobby in 1995. Medieval re-enactment can seem like a bit of an odd hobby, but it’s a lot of fun! For me it’s a great way of doing something completely different, pursuing my interest in history, being creative and just relaxing.

I’ve taught lots of classes on medieval clothing and crafts (and continue to do so with great gusto – if you are interested in booking me as a teacher, send me an email at neulakko a iki.fi).

Photo: Jonas Evertsson

However, I’m not a professional historian nor a craftsman. But I am a Laurel, for those who know what that means.

In real life, my master’s degree is in social sciences and I work with communications and government. I live in Helsinki with my husband, our son and two very helpful Cornish rex cats.

I can be reached at: neulakko@iki.fi. And of course I follow the blog comments very carefully, there’s room for questions and discussion there too!

18 Replies to “Neulakko in English”

Dear Elina !
After having the opportunity to meet you in Turku I also took the chance to read your blog.
I’m really impressed of your exellent work and your enthusiasm in medieval reenactment.
As promised we will keep you posted about our (m i m’s) events and plans – and we are really looking forward seeing you in the future again.

I would like to know if you can contact me about a embroidered purse , if you know someone that can make one for me . I am in the mid-to late 14th century period . And do you know were i can found some good linen fabric to make a wimple and veil ?
Thank you :)

Hello :)
I tried to contact http://www.medeltidsmode.se but all the e-mail i sent always back to my mail box with a delivery error message :/
Do you have an e-mail adress to contact this shop ?
Do you still have an idea about someone that can make me a purse ? :)
Thank you so much ;)

Hi! I’ve emailed a person I thought about regarding the purse, We’ll see what she thinks. I’m sorry that you have a hard time reaching medeltidsmode, unfortunately the only email I have for Kerstin is the one on their site. :( I hope the problem is temporary and you could reach her later! Tippet is another store (here in Finland) you should try – they have a thin linen which goes for veils: http://www.tippet.fi/tuotteet.html?id=19/72

Hi :) thank you so much !
Thank you for the new shop link ;)
About the pouch i am interested to have one knitted from the ” stitch out of time ” pouch patterns ( if possible of course ), so please let me know what will said the person :)
You can wrote me directly at my email adress too .

HI i love your work.. I do a much earlier viking period and I’m branching into a finnish style to go with my heritage.. do you have some suggestions for finnish viking references from finland in both english and finnish?
Also is there any documentation and patters for embroidery that was done by the medieval Fins like the pouch you worked on. I do alot of free hand embrodery but Im now looking for a focus.

As for the counted thread embroidery, there isn’t much evidence I know of that it would for certain have been done in medieval finland. There is a bit in an antepedium that resembles counted thread embroidery, but that is all I know of. The finds are fairly limited and a lot of stuff has not been published, so it is hard to know of even if it exists.

Awesome outfits. Medieval times was were I’m sure I must have passed thru. I am taken back with the clothing from simple in style to elegant. Incredible. Blessings to you. Did they make quilts in those days? Was asked to demo for our faire.

hi there!!
what a very nice blog ! i’ve finallyone found some who share this passion with me!
thank you for your efforts and keep it up !!
please do more things about medieval age and why not the victorian era i adore it

my name is Tom Eckert from Germany. Sorry my english is not so good.
I will write an article about german Kruseler-figures. For this article I need a Picture. Can I use a Picture from Your Homepage where the starched frilled veil is shown. The veil look verry beautiful.